The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1887-03-25

THE KNEES SISTER SACRIFICES HERSELF
TO THE GODDESS PELE.


There is weeping and wailing among
the inild-eyed Kanakee IN this far off
kingdom of the Sunset Sea, Hawaii.
All that is mortal Of the we'll beloved
Princess Like Like, the youngest sister
of His Majesty King Kalakaua, will be
disposited on the 2Slh inst, side by
side with those Of the other personages
who have gone before to their last
resting place in the royal mausoeum.
The princess was woman of more
than ordinary Intelligence, and had i'm.
proved herself by much reading and
study. Her manners were easy aud
graceful. She was the wife of A. b.
Cleghorn, at one time a member os the
kings cabinet, and by him had one
child, little girl now nine years of
age. This little miss, provided she
lives, will in all probability take an i'm
portant stand in the Affairs of the
kingdom, she being in the line of sue
cession to the throne.
But Notwithstanding the intelligence
of Like Like--the constant Intercourse
she had had with the foreign popula-
tion for years and years-theie was
yet q strain of natural superstition 10
her composition of which she could not
rid herself, and:to this, If reports be
true, we may now attribute her un-
timely taking off. For centuries back,
or as far as run the Hawaiian annals,
there has been belief among the
people that the eruptions of Mauna
Loa and Kilauea were the means taken
by the goddess Pele to show her dis
pleasure of mortal events. It was also
held--and the resurrected order of Ka-
hunas and soothsayers encourage the
belief--tbat the only means to appease
the goddess wrath was by the sacri-
ficc Of some of the royal family. Time
and again, when those awful volcanoes
have deluged the surrounding country
with their fiery flow and shaken the
coral islands to their centre, has this
human sarifice taken place, whether
with the desired effect or not the chron
iolers say not.
The volcano of Mauna Loa recently
broke out, as dispatches to the Herald
have already stated, into violent
eruption. This eruption, the first in
twenty-five years caused the supersti-
tious natives to believe that Pele had
put her war paint on and was showing
her anger at the things that be. The
natives from their huts watched the
lurid light that shone upon the mount
ain top and knew that the goddess was
reaching out her fiery arms for a VIC
tim of the royal blood. The Kahunas,
who have lately gained once more the
favor of the king, declared that Pele
must be appeased to arrest the fearful
doom which they said must come.
They had not far to search for one
who would make the fearful sacrifice,
and while the rumbllng of the volca-
no made awful thunder the Princess
Like Like announced to the people that
she, the sister of the king-the nearest
to the throne-would lay down her
life 10 stop the awful flow. She open
ly proclaimed that she gloried 10 make
a martyr of herself for her country and
her people and though in the prime
of life aud with the prospect OF
crown before her, she made her final
preparations and lay down to avail.
the end. It is said that in this final
proceeding the Kahunas played no un-
important part, and that while acting
as her guardians and advisers they
were, in fact, practicing their dark arts
upon her and hurrying her onward to
the end.
For days and days she lay among
these people, and during all that time
not q particle of food was allowed to
PASS her lips. Death was not speedily
coming to one 80 full of life and vital
ity ~ she had been, but starvation did
its work at last, and while Kahunas
sat about and their incantations went
on the spirit of the princess left her
body and the sacrifice was at an end
For twenty days her remains are to
lie in state, and on the 28th the iron
portals of the mausoleum close in upon
them them forever.
That this good woman was cruelty
sacrificed to the superstition of the
kahunas is an open secret at the islands
but the strangest part to tell is this,
that upon the day of her death Mauna
Loa the Awful ceased to belch the lava
forth, and for days after was in per-
feet quiet, and then the hoary old
soothsayers went about among the
people with many nod and mystic
sign, as who should say, ssDidn't we
foretell all this :" and to day their pow
or is greater in the land than since the
days when CAPTAIN Cook laid bones
upon their sandy beach.